A novel food supply chain analysis from WHO identifies insights for governments to consider when designing sugar reduction strategies. It explores the incentives and disincentives to using sugar in manufactured foods throughout the “sugar supply chain” – the actors and activities that take sugar from farm to fork. Read more
Suzanne Suggs, Doug Evans and Clarissa Hsu held a session on “Social marketing and vaccination acceptance: Understanding and addressing determinants of behaviours and mechanisms of change in context” at the annual Vaccination behaviour meeting in Annecy, France 25-27 September 2017. This year’s theme was “Vaccine Acceptance Science, Policy, and Practice in a “Post-Fact” World” and was attended by participants from across the world and sectors (industry, government, NGOs, and academia). The WHO Sage Working group on Vaccination Hesitancy suggested that social marketing be used to address vaccination hesitancy. This recommendation, combined with various policies, practices and research evidence on the outcomes [...]
Please help us understand more about the ethical dilemmas and challenges facing social marketers. This project is a response to concerns regarding the lack of Codes of Ethics for social marketing and related fields such as health promotion. While several organisations have developed codes and ethical standards, they have yet to be endorsed by global social marketing and health promotion communities. Research is needed to determine the nature of ethical dilemmas faced by practitioners, and their preferences for additional resources and formal or informal support systems. Please help to move this issue forward by taking part in this short 5 minutes [...]
ESMA is pleased to announce that the Social Marketing Concepts and Principle paper that we have contributed to alongside other global social marketing associations has now been endorsed by all existing professional associations. This paper is a significant mile-stone in the development of consensus around the nature, form and purpose of social marketing. A working group made up of several ESMA members and members of other associations chaired by Professor Jeff French spent two and a half years developing this new consensus paper on what constitute the core concepts of social marketing and its central principle. The paper was commissioned to [...]
World Health Organisation: Development of a draft global action plan to promote physical activity Aiming to develop a draft global action plan to promote physical activity, the WHO Secretariat is hosting an open web-based consultation on a first draft from 1 August 2017 to 22 September 2017. Member States, UN organizations and non-State actors are invited to submit their comments. This is a great opportunity for reflection on how social marketing can help to promote physical activity. Social marketers working in this area are invited to share their lessons and suggest ways forward for a global action plan to promote physical [...]
The 5th World Social Marketing Conference assembled 500 scholars, practitioners and policy makers in Washington to explore, discuss and debate social marketing challenges and solutions to the world’s most complex dilemmas, including, but not limited to, sustainability, health and well-being, poverty, violence against women, injustice, and other societal concerns. Participants were invited to submit competitive papers, working papers, or proposals for workshops and special sessions. The Conference was intense showcasing fascinating applications of social marketing and multiple perspectives on behaviour and social change. The programme included 6 keynote sessions, 12 panels, 10 workshops/interactive sessions, 106 papers presentations and 39 posters displayed. [...]
Join Professor Jeff French at an exciting new series of training events available in London through 2017, the first of which is taking place on 30th March. The new SSM training and development sessions are designed to provide up-to-date evidence, theory and practice drawn from the many disciplines and fields of practice that seek to influence social behaviour. Each training event will take a holistic cross disciplinary and cross sector approach that emphasises what works. Our training sessions are a mix of input from subject and practitioner experts and interactive exercises and debates designed to foster a critical understanding as well [...]
The 3rd European Social Marketing Conference took place in Espoo, Finland, 22-23 September 2016. The mission of the European Social Marketing Conference is to act as a vehicle to help build a European movement dedicated to capturing, spreading and nurturing good practice in Social Marketing, as well as increase the efficiency and effectiveness of Social Marketing practice at both operational and strategic levels. We are committed to running the conference at locations around Europe every two years in order to build a truly pan-European community of Social Marketers. The conference brings together practitioners, academics, policy makers, researchers and industry to explore [...]
"Social Marketing in a Country. The British Experience" by Carlos Oliveira Santos, PhD, is a comprehensive account of the British national social marketing strategy. The book uses a cognitive approach, to examine the genesis, evolution, and implementation of that policy process that led to an important development in British public health policy. In mapping this experience the book provides a useful resource for those seeking to contribute to the conception and development of similar policy solutions in other situations and countries. Carlos Oliveira Santos is an assistant professor at the University of Lisbon (Portugal), PhD in Political Science (Public Policy) by [...]
Trends in diabetes: Diabetes kills as many people as AIDS. In 2012 diabetes caused as many deaths as HIV/AIDS (1.5 million). The study from NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC) analyses the trends in diabetes prevalence since 1980. The data are derived from 751 population-based measurement studies involving nearly 4.4 million participants. The study stresses the importance of a multi-level approach to support healthy behaviour, diets and lifestyle change and programmes to enable early detection and management of high-risk individuals to prevent diabetes or delaying its onset. For diabetes patients action is needed to improve access and adherence to medication. The full [...]
